Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1887-03-11
WOOD-FEARS.
They Are Proofs That Nature Is
Strange to Us.

Strange to Us.
Unless we live n the country, the
woods play but a small part in our lives.
We see them only in the summer holt
days, perhaps not even then; we become
as strangers to their beauty, and for
longer or shorter per DDS forget to think
of them. And yet, aside from all phys
ical consequences what a dreary world
it would be were there no forests Our
thought would be parched and restless.
and, so to speak, without eyelids. The
busiest and most pers silently urban
among us would lose an horizon restful
to the eye, curtain of green and
peaceful recolectons.
To the wild creatures who inhabit it,
the wood is full of terrors. 1t mt once
covert and a snare, Il place OF refuge
and of lurking danger. The tree that
shelters the small bird conceals the
movements of his enemy, the owl, the
SOU rrel, or the black snake; there is
protection beneath the uhderbrush, but
no gertrude as to what lies on the other
side of its LEAKAGE. Every thing in the
wood appears to be n a perpetual state
of watchfulness or of cas- ly routed Sc
curity. The sparrow by the roadside
will accept you for listener, if you
keep within bounds of the auditorium;
transgress them little, and he meas
ures off another dozen feet to the next
post, and begins the con ert afresh.
The chipmunk, after his first start and
scurry, pau, es to eye the intruder before
slipping into his hole, and the glance is
often an assured one. But the wood
bird and squirrel have nd low curiosity
and no DIES re to be seem; they are up
and away at the first alarm. The only
birds who are careless of new presence
in the woods are the tiny warblers and
flv catching tribes. who live first floor
below the stars and take small note of
events In the rez-de-chaussee, and tn
chickad, e, who brings in from orchard
and pasture a fund of cheerful audacity
to be paid out among the shadows.
Do not we ourselves, ON entering the
wood, take on certain Increase of suS-
ceptibility and alertness analogous to
tbs deepcnod timid.ty and caution of
the birds? Have we MO wo 1d-fear 5
They may be definite and substantial or
altogether vague, but think that most
nate distrust, this readiness to take alarm
in the forest. 'Sec his little breast
heave," | one said, pointing out to a
startled ma den a chipmunk, who, in the
furry of his own terror, had been the
cause of hers II don't wonder at it. y
she replied. fervently. ''Mine does y
There are al degrees of this sensitive
ness, according to the fineness or cult
of tho info natidr 'rhnra ar,
people who suspect every unfamiliar
leaf or berry of malicious intent to poison
them. who will hardly pluck Hover
without challenge, and are more wary
of drinking at II mountain stream thar
of imbibing the filtered liquid which
usurps the name of water in the city
And country PEOPLE have more shrink
ings and small supersttions, albeit of ;
homelier and more absolvable sort, thar
the most urban of excurs onists. TIL
children, on return ng from day Der
rying, or ''plumm ng, as they quaint,
call it in some parts, report o
hearing bear in the forest border. and
are half convinced that their escap,
to the sunlight has been mar
row one. Toads and snakes are no
looked upon tn more favor by thos,
nearest to the haunts. What vener
able cult is that fear of snakes. 1t il
as old as the oldest religion; it is $,
widespread that we can almost call
universal, and has roots SO deep that
is impossible to tell whether they ar
fast, ned in inst net or in trad on
The fact that it is shared by rls a I
other animals pc MS 10 the formo
Source; but if the feel ng had not il
rise in tradition, it has certainly beer
among the most potent factors in ere
ating it The vivid emeralds and har
monious wood-t nts of the snake, hi
patterned spots and stripes, his repro
duction in almost every movement q
Hogarth's line of beauty, win for hin
no admiration. Even his innocence
no sh ED to h m; the world VIII not b
brought 10 believe it. Take away hi
tangs and reduce him to puny size
the aversion he inspires Is there all tn
same, illogi' al yet lneradlcable.
Thus it is with the majority of tn
sensations which | term wood-fear,
Apart from ali vulgar, tangible apprt
hension of Icing bitten or stung, Their
exists host of tiny intangible .'feai
lets" VIII CHI tease our imaginations @
lurk unsupported in the background {
our consciousness. Alone in the fores
we listen and keep lookout; there is
course to be shaped; we are alive I
every whisper; we startle the partridg,
and are startled by him in turn. A
unexplained noise has everywhere a
unfriendly sound, and under the ire,
noises do not so readily explain then
selves as the open country. The vel